BOOM. Headshot. I splatter the brains of a policeman all over some unfortunate soul's window with a sniper rifle as Booker DeWitt. And I feel kind of sick. It's actually a new feeling for me. I was one of those twelve-year-olds who gleefully ran over hookers in GTA Vice City to loot their cash and laugh as they flew over the hood of my cheetah. Needless to say, my tastes have matured since then.
But I've never felt this kind of discomfort with game violence before. I'm currently playing through the Last of Us, and the close combat animations make me cringe. Smack a head against a concrete wall, stomp a guy's face until it's concave. And I find it grotesque, to be honest. And I'm really glad you can avoid combat if you're good enough at stealth.
But this is not what my post was going to be about. I want to talk about mechanics. As in: killing others as a game mechanic. It doesn't matter how is it third or first person, a shooter or an RPG, most mainstream titles (aside from sports and vehicle simulators), the main mechanic revolves around extinguishing life. Even, nay, especially those games who claim to be "story focused". Like the aforementioned Bioshock and the Uncharted series. It's just kind of sad when games like this reduce the player's agency to "The Guy who kills ALL the dudes!"
Now I know there are many titles who defy such a description: Heavy Rain or The Walking Dead (by Telltale), are in my opinion exceptional games for achieving maximum tension with a minimum of actual violence. And when violence is used, it's justified and evocative. Oh geez, I'm beginning to sound like some hipster hippie, am I?
So what I wanted to ask was: are there more people like me, who reveled in the blood and skulls when they were young but came to dislike it as they matured.
And, just how do you feel about violence in games? Do you feel like there could be a better set of mechanics to convey a story? Are there any non-violent games that hold a place in your heart?
But I've never felt this kind of discomfort with game violence before. I'm currently playing through the Last of Us, and the close combat animations make me cringe. Smack a head against a concrete wall, stomp a guy's face until it's concave. And I find it grotesque, to be honest. And I'm really glad you can avoid combat if you're good enough at stealth.
But this is not what my post was going to be about. I want to talk about mechanics. As in: killing others as a game mechanic. It doesn't matter how is it third or first person, a shooter or an RPG, most mainstream titles (aside from sports and vehicle simulators), the main mechanic revolves around extinguishing life. Even, nay, especially those games who claim to be "story focused". Like the aforementioned Bioshock and the Uncharted series. It's just kind of sad when games like this reduce the player's agency to "The Guy who kills ALL the dudes!"
Now I know there are many titles who defy such a description: Heavy Rain or The Walking Dead (by Telltale), are in my opinion exceptional games for achieving maximum tension with a minimum of actual violence. And when violence is used, it's justified and evocative. Oh geez, I'm beginning to sound like some hipster hippie, am I?
So what I wanted to ask was: are there more people like me, who reveled in the blood and skulls when they were young but came to dislike it as they matured.
And, just how do you feel about violence in games? Do you feel like there could be a better set of mechanics to convey a story? Are there any non-violent games that hold a place in your heart?